Cardinals sweep in return from outbreak
Chicago — From Kolten Wong's opening eight-pitch walk in the first game to Andrew Miller's save at the every end, the St. Louis Cardinals' long-awaited return from a coronavirus outbreak was a smashing success.
Lots of air highfives for the Cards.
Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O'Neill homered, and St. Louis beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on Saturday for a rousing doubleheader sweep for the reigning NL Central champions.
"It was what we do. We do it together," manager Mike Shildt said.
Playing for the first time since July 29, St. Louis used solid performances by Dexter Fowler and Adam Wainwright to post a 5-1 victory in Game 1.
Then it battered Chicago's bullpen in the second seven-inning game — part of shortened doubleheaders in the pandemic-delayed season.
The Cardinals improved to 4-3 with the sweep. Every other team in the majors had played at least 13 games coming into the day.
"We put a lot of team at-bats together, got some guys on, were able to drive some in," O'Neill said. "So it was a good day overall for us."
Trailing 3-1 heading into the fifth, the Cardinals went ahead to stay with a four-run rally. Goldschmidt hit an RBI single off Evan Marshall (0-1) before O'Neill belted a tiebreaking drive to left for his third homer.
Max Schrock and top prospect Dylan Carlson each got their first major league hit in the inning. Génesis Cabrera (1-0) pitched an inning for the win, and Miller got three outs for his first save of the season.
Eloy Jiménez and Luis Robert homered for Chicago in the second game, but the White Sox had just six hits on the day. Lucas Giolito (1-2) allowed five runs, four earned, and six hits in five innings in the opener.
"We just weren't able to do a whole lot," manager Rick Renteria said. "Few guys on base, couple of hits. Not enough offense."
Wainwright (2-0) also recorded the team's previous win, beating Pittsburgh 9-1 on July 25. The Cardinals then dropped three in a row before a coronavirus outbreak shook up their roster and coaching staff, leaving them idle for weeks and resulting in 18 confirmed cases in the organization.